2 Indians who should be role models but should now be on no-fly lists!!

It boils my blood when people behave entitled when flying. I’ve long believed that while everyone hasn’t flown yet, the privilege behind flying is long gone, and it is only a matter of time flights will be a commodity. We just need to get those 50 airports we need to be able to dot the country with tons of flights.

There are some people, who are so very visible and hence should behave responsibly when travelling. Instead, it brings out the trash that they hold in their heads and their hearts, about being above everyone and everything else. Oh yes, you are, but only literally. I fly in a metal tube almost every week, and I can’t try and thank enough the crew who take care of us. Do not forget, they are working longer hours than us, getting perhaps lesser sleep than us, and while I may have to get back to a desk the next morning, they have to be with their phone by their side, especially when they are on the reserve.

I wanted to highlight why we perhaps should now think seriously of the no-fly list in India. Two incidents make me believe so. One just happened today, when a politician hit an Air India flight attendant with a slipper in full public view. As per this so called Member of Parliament, he was sold a business class seat and the plane had no business class. Well, maybe we need to de-board him and pursue legal action against him for his violent nature. The crass entitlement here, comes from the fact that he is a Member of Parliament. If he was sold a business-class seat, there was no way he was not aware before coming on the plane that the plane had no J class. Air India may be a badly run airline, but they are not in the business of checking-in people and giving them business class boarding passes and showing them the road to Economy when they arrive.

The other role model is a famous comedian, who perhaps has success going through his head. I don’t know the airline he was flying back from Australia to India on Air India, but seems he had chugged down a whole bottle of expensive Whiskey on the plane, and then had an altercation with his own colleague who was travelling along with him. What is it with Indians and Whiskey anyways? Why drink up a whole bottle? I know we show you all the nice champagnes and wines, but we are sipping on a glass, or two, to unwind and then go off to sleep. Not glugging down bottles after bottles without having the capacity to hold our own. Here is an eyewitness account of the incident.

Wishing to stay anonymous, the source who was on-board the 12-hour flight told us that Kapil had consumed an entire bottle of Glenfiddich whisky, and was visibly drunk. When the food was being served by the cabin crew, his team (the crew and cast of Kapil’s TV show, The Kapil Sharma Show, who had gone to Australia for a show) started to eat. This angered Kapil, who was still finishing his drink.

I seriously hope the aviation minister takes a cue out of this incident and puts such people in their place, which is on a no-flying list. After all, this is our usual attitude when on a plane, right?

Why should politicians, celebrities, public figures be a role model? They are just a regular person inside and out, like you and me. What do you expect to learn from them? The problem is we think we need one, choose our own role models while in reality there are none.